Poverty rate higher for non-EU nationals

CONSISTENT POVERTY is higher among non-EU nationals living in Ireland than Irish nationals a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute has found.

The Annual Monitoring Report on Integration 2011, published today, found that consistent poverty was almost twice as high among non-EU nationals than among Irish people living in Ireland.

The report by the Integration Centre and the ESRI, found consistent poverty – defined as a combination of having a low income and lacking in two basic items such as food, clothes or heating or an inability to participate in social or family life due to lack of means – stood at at just under 10 per cent among non-EU nationals.

This compared to a consistent poverty rate of 5.5 per cent among Irish nationals. The figures, which apply to 2009 are contained in the 2011 report. They indicated that the gap between Irish and non-EU nationals experiencing consistent poverty had widened between 2008 and 2009.

In the preface to the report, the chief executive of the Integration Centre, Killian Forde, said higher rates of consistent poverty among non-Irish nationals were due to a number of factors including low labour market participation and a greater proportion of students in the immigrant population.

The report notes that, at the start of 2011, the unemployment rate was 18 per cent among non-Irish nationals, compared to just under 14 per cent for nationals. It also found that non-nationals have a much lower self employment rate than their Irish counterparts.

The report noted that the children of immigrants were, for the most part, highly motivated students with more positive attitudes to school than their Irish peers.